In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
by slipperystone
Summary: Here's a little something from the vaults for y'all.  Happy Halloween!


Nyota followed Spock down the corridor, the modified phaser rifle in her hands slick from her sweating palms. She held it tightly, ready to swing it down at a moment's notice and fire. Yes, she had been through drills dealing with the possibility of deadly intruders on the ship, but the grim reality was so much different than a training exercise. Most of the horrifying creatures had been destroyed, but a few were loose on the ship and they needed to find them soon, before they killed again. Fifteen lives was fifteen too many, and she had no intention of letting any more of her comrades fall, not if she could help it.

In front of her, Spock motioned for her to stop and consulted his tricorder once more. She peered around his arm and saw the tiny green stationary blip on the screen: one of the intruders. She swallowed as he punched a button and their position relative to the invader's appeared on the screen. Twenty-two point six meters. Not much room at all, and those damn things could _move_… Suddenly her mouth was dry as the Sahara and she felt like she was going to be ill. 'Adrenaline,' she thought. She took a deep, steadying breath and pushed aside her fears. She looked up at him and nodded. He silently thumbed the button off and let the tricorder fall to his side, dangling by his hip from the shoulder strap. He reached out and briefly touched her cheek with two fingers before he turned back around, unslung his phaser rifle and took it in his hands, and ducked his head out into the corridor, checking that their path to the creature was clear. She watched as he looked around and then began to step out, waving her out behind him.

But before she could follow him, a sound like metal being torn and a horrified humanoid shriek erupted from down the corridor. She couldn't tell if the voice belonged to a male or a female, only that the person was absolutely terrified. She had to fight the urge to start screaming along with them.

_"Oh FUCK! It's in the __AIR VENT__!"_ the person cried out. She could hear other voices raised in alarm and panic, and the sound of at least one set of booted feet running away. "Oh dear _God_," the person pleaded, sounding near tears. "Please, oh please no… no… _not me… NO! __**NO!**_" There were shots fired, but they quickly fell silent as she heard _it_scream, its banshee wail echoing down the corridor. And then there was silence, eerie silence, and she knew that whoever had been down there was gone. Her rapid breath sounded too loud in her own ears and she made a concerted effort to breathe slower.

She wanted to fall back, find a place of safety and hide, but Spock was moving into the corridor, his phaser rifle slung low as he fired. It shrieked again and she heard a loud, thudding noise coming towards them. Spock shot her a glance that said, "Flee!" as he began to back up further down the corridor he had just entered, firing at the thing… She saw it race past her hiding place, moving with deadly speed down the corridor towards Spock… She wanted to scream a warning to him, to beg him to run, just run, get away-

But before she could do anything, she heard a noise from up above her. She looked up, noticing for the first time that she was almost directly under an air vent… She backed away and screamed as the grating popped off and a clawed black hand appeared on the edge of the vent. A second later, it stuck its eyeless, elongated skull out of the vent and seemed to look right at her. She had no doubt that it knew that she was there. It shrieked and poured itself out of the vent to land on its feet barely a meter in front of her. Its tall, black, skeletal form blocked all routes of escape and she shrunk back against the wall. She could feel its tail, which resembled black vertebra, brush against the back of her legs, trying to force her closer. She didn't scream again until it opened its mouth and hissed, revealing rows of translucent teeth covered in slime. Its teeth parted to expose a smaller mouth, nestled inside the larger one, on the end of some kind of bizarre appendage. The jaws of the smaller mouth snapped at her and she knew that the end was near.

She knew what was coming. She'd seen the security footage from Engineering, the mangled bodies and entombed crewmembers, the holes melted in the deck from the corrosive acid those things used for blood… She knew what would happen if she fired on it point blank. But she was already dead: there was no escape from this thing now. What was it the people in Security always said? 'Die with your boots on'? At least this way, she got to choose how she died.

Just as the smaller mouth shot out towards her chest, ready to impale her, she swung her phaser rifle up and shoved the muzzle right between its teeth, all of her fear gone now that she had committed to her course of action.

"Today is a good day to die," she snarled in Klingon as she pulled the trigger.

Acid shot out of its ruined mouth, the corrosive spray arcing in the air, hitting the deck, her uniform, her arms and face, eating and burning through everything-

With a terrified shriek, Nyota slapped at her arms and legs, trying to scrape the acid off of them. But instead of encountering a ruined uniform or her own ruined flesh, she found that she was pushing at bedsheets and that her back was flat against a bulkhead. Next to her, Spock was sitting up in bed, instantly wide awake, his arms reaching for her even as she sought them. She took several deep breaths and took in her surroundings, realizing that she was safe in her quarters and safe in his arms.

"You had a disturbing dream?" he quietly asked after she had calmed somewhat, his hand stroking her hair.

"Yes," she replied. "I dreamed about the creature in one of those holos Scotty made us watch tonight."

"Which one?" His hand was still stroking her hair and she leaned into it, grateful for his comfort.

"That seven-foot tall one that popped out of that guy's chest and had acid for blood," she said. "I dreamed we had some onboard and you and I were hunting one of them. It got someone, then it came after you, and then another one came out of the air vent and came after me. I killed it, but it got me, too…" She trailed off and shuddered, still shaken by the nightmare image.

"Perhaps you should not watch such things right before bed," Spock murmured, still holding her close.

"I know, but Scotty has this tradition about watching creepy old movies that have been converted into holos on Halloween." She pulled away slightly and looked up at Spock. "You know how he gets about his traditions and breaking them. Anyway, it seemed like a good idea at the time." He said nothing, merely gave her a resigned look as he released her and lay back down. Now that she had calmed somewhat, she lay down next to him and snuggled close.

"It's not all bad." she said. "After all, you did get to comfort me after a bad dream." She smiled against his shoulder, her fingers tangling in the hair on his chest. "You could always comfort me some more…" She let her fingers drift down to his stomach and towards the waistband of his drawstring pants. His warm fingers on top of hers stilled her advance.

"Do you feel as though you are in need of more attention?" he asked. He had that tone in his voice, too, that deep rumble that sent the right kind of shivers down her spine. She smiled again.

"Oh, yes, most definitely," she said. He released her hand, his fingers slipping under the hem of her short nightgown as she pulled him into her arms, eager to let him help her forget all about her dream.


End file.
